Charlie Hebdo: Perhaps Not So Fast


# JesuisCharlie, or to be more precise, # NoussommesCharlie.

In the aftermath of the tragic and horrific attack on the French version of the Onion satirical magazine (could we imagine that happening here?) there are two things that stand out.

First: Charlie Hedo-deniers – those like Hofstra University Professor Hussein Rashid’s recent column in the Washington Post that describe the French magazine content as racist.

Perhaps it was, but considering how small the magazine’s readership was in France isn’t it a bit ironic that critics like Rashid, who may never heard of the magazine until the shooting and almost certainly do not have a subscription, propound with such absolute confidence in characterizing its contents? Easy to snipe at a dead editor!

Charlie Hebdo might have been inappropriate at times, but it is time for arm chair commentators like Rashid to stop this blame-transferring and get back to the simple fact – the problem was not Hebdo or its content – it was the guys with the guns.

That sort of logic echoes the misplaced commentary after 9-11 of headlines like “why do they hate us?” as if those attacks were somehow justified.

Second: we all want to know whether these murderous thugs were talking to like-minded nuts in the U.S. – and, if so, who are they? The obvious question: are they setting the stage for similar attacks in the U.S.?

But how can we find that out? How can our national security apparatus protect us, because if an attack like this should happen the fingers will inevitably start pointing?

The answer includes checking the telephone records and using them to catch would-be attackers before they get started. But hang on. Haven’t we just had a gut-wrenching national debate over just that kind of bulk telephony metadata collection? Patriot Act Section 215 ring any bells?

“End it!” “Violation of civil rights!” “Police state!” The general charge – that sort of thing is un-American.

Section 215 expires in June and privacy advocates are screaming not to renew it. It is a new world, an unfriendly world, and Hebdo frightening points out – a world that is coming. Might All Things Media suggest that the idea of gathering this kind of data – without safeguards about personal identification until actions like #JesuisCharlie triggers more investigation — is not such a bad idea.

This is so that we don’t have to read columns that suggest somehow we were somehow asking for it, when Hebdo barbarism happens here.

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